Dragon pot: Shinrin-yoku
Dragon pot: Shinrin-yoku
About
Built from a mix of two local clays: Shigaraki for strength under heat, Tokoname for color. Woodfired at a pottery studio in the Tokoname forest, Japan, October 2025.
A dragon pot.
19 × 14 cm (7.5 × 5.5 in)
The Making
Textured with clay trimmed away while shaping the piece, then pressed back onto the surface as decoration. The name comes from its resemblance to traditional Chinese dragon pots.
The side that faced the fire turned bright green, a reaction from the pine in the kiln.
The Firing
Read more ▾
Made during three weeks at a pottery studio in the Tokoname forest, Japan, a city built on pottery, threaded by a footpath paved with broken ceramic shards and a centuries-old climbing kiln leaning into the hillside. This was my first wood firing, and the studio itself had a small, family feel, like living in a village.
The kiln was an anagama: a single-chamber, tunnel-shaped wood kiln, one of the oldest kiln types in Japan, brought over from Korea around the 5th century. This one had only a front stoke hole, no side stoking. The approach here, taught by kiln master Peter Seabridge, isn't about speed. It's about pacing: watching the thermometer, watching the chimney through a mirror in the window, and judging when to feed it again.
I worked two shifts, both mornings, about 10 hours each. In the first, the temperature climbed from 260°C to 1020°C. In the second, it rose from 1214°C to 1255°C, crossing the 1250°C mark. The kiln peaked at 1260°C. There was no reduction cooling at the end, just a long climb up and back down.
No glaze was applied to any piece. Everything you see on the surface is ash, clay body, and slip.